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Sources Say: Not filing for city races didn't limit fundraising

Plus, women likely to dominate Portland government in 2019, with a majority on the City Council and in the City Auditor's Office.{img:185697}

Two potential candidates who did not officially announce or file for the City Council raised more money last year than those who did.

The top fundraiser was Portland architect Stuart Emmons, who says he will decide this month whether to run for the seat being vacated by Commissioner Dan Saltzman or the one held by Commissioner Nick Fish, who is battling cancer. Even without committing, Emmons received $80,175 in cash contributions last year.

In second place was Multnomah County Commissioner Loretta Smith, who raised $57,820 to run for Saltzman's seat, even though she did not officially announce and file until after the first of the year, to avoid having to resign her current position.

Oregon Secretary of State Dennis Richardson declared Smith a candidate anyway and fined her $250 for not updating her campaign committee filing.

In third place was NAACP Portland chapter President Jo Ann Hardesty, who raised $56,365 last year to run for Saltzman's seat. Just behind her was Fish, who collected $56,075. He has filed for re-election.

The remaining City Council candidates trailed badly in their fundraising efforts last year. The others running for Commissioner Dan Saltzman's seat are Mayor Ted Wheeler staffer Andrea Valderrama, who raised $15,733, and Northwest Portland neighborhood activist Felica Williams, who raised $8,803 but also received a $20,000 loan.

Fish's only opponent so far, environmentalist Julia DeGraw, raised the least in 2017, just $6,246.

The 2018 primary election will be held Tuesday, May 15. Until March 3, contributions must be reported within 30 days of being received. From March 4 through April 2, contributions must be reported by April 10. After that, they must be reported within seven days, until the election.

Women likely to dominate next City Council

At this point in the 2018 elections, there's a strong possibility that women will make up a majority of the five-member City Council next year for the first time.

The two women on the council, commissioners Chloe Eudaly and Amanda Fritz, are not up for re-election this year. The four candidates currently running for Commissioner Dan Saltzman's seat are women. Three are minorities. The only man who filed for it so far, former Oregon Public Broadcasting newscaster Raymond Spencer, dropped out after being criticized for running against them.

Even if Stuart Emmons enters the race, he has lost to a woman in a council race before. Emmons received 14 percent of the vote when he ran against Commissioner Steve Novick in the 2016 May primary election. That was one point less than bookstore owner Chloe Eudaly, who finished second but went on to defeat Novick in a November runoff.

And the Portland City Auditor will most likely remain a woman. No one has yet filed against incumbent Mary Hull Caballero.